1
job of the parent who would keep to imagine the extent of trouble,
the books out of the daughter's cost and discouragement involved.
hands in the same manner as we
33flrsh ' considered, or rather, the wrong IN RECENT years the meaning
issue is being considered. The of "political propaganda" has
question is not one of obscenity or been expanded so far that the
artist's intentions or political, so- Protestant Council of Churches
cial and artistic offense to the has been forced to send delega-
offend the common conscience of common conscience, of the com- tions to New York City and Wash-
Ne i the community by present day munity by present day standards. ington, D.C., to free religious
standards." The question is one of freedom to literature from abroad which has
write and read, think and speak. been recklessly confiscated by the
oeALCOLM COWLEY justifies It is a freedom which cannot be Post Office and Customs. A sena-
T o A n O C onirov s the book with the argument limited by the constraints of spe- tor from New Jersey was forced
that "this philosophy, this doc- cial groups, to use the diplomatic courier serv-
trine, is carried out through the ice to obtain articles from a Lon-
yGORDON MUMMA .book with religious purpose" ... THE ARGUMENT will be raised don newspaper because the Post
"It is what marriage counsellors about pornography and youth: Office thought the whole affair
are telling the counselees five days "What about my twelve year old was "suspect." Not only literature,
CENSORSHIP controversy over carry obscene publications and it
D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chat- has charged the Post Office De-
terley's Lover" first arose in 1928, partment with the duty of en-
immediately following publication forcing this responsibility. The
of the book in Italy (in the English United States Customs also has
language). Attempts were made to some sort of power to this effect.
import the book into this country, Literature of both obscene and
but confiscations by the United political nature is confiscated from
States Post Office discouraged free private individuals returning to
market or publication of the book. the United States from abroad.
Since that time and even fol- The First Amendment of the
.owing the historic Supreme Court Constitution protects all works of
decision on importation and publi- literary, social and philosophical
cation of Joyce's "Ulysses," no significance from Government in-
American publisher was willing to terference. Historically, the ap-
take the risk of a court battle with proach used in defenge of
the unexpurgated Lady Chatter- challenged literary, social and
tey . philosophical works has been to
On May 4 of this year the Grove achieve an official (i.e. Post Of-
Press of New York City came forth fice, Customs or Government)
with the complete book. They recognition of their significance.
handled the situation discretly, TEBO LayC tery
first by distributing the book prior THE BOOK Lady Chatterley
to publication date and second by has lost the first part of a bat-
shipping the book by truck, bus tle, the film Lady Chatterley has
and air freight to avoid conflict won. The film, made in France,
with the United States Post Office. recently won a Supreme Court
decision overruling a New York
THE STORM broke when the State decision that it was morally
Readers Subscription mailed objectionable because it advocated
circulars advertising the book as adultery. The Supreme Court deci-
a part of their book club series. sion stated that suppression of the
On April 30 the Post Office seized idea of adultery was a violation
20,000 circulars from Readers Sub- of the First Amendment of the
scription, and one week later it Constitution. Obscenity did not
impounded 164 copies of the book enter into the decision because the
itself. However, due to pre-publi- film did not use four letter words.
cation release of the book by Grove The Post Office case against the
Press, nearly 70,000 copies of the book is against the four letter
book had already been sold on the words, the descriptions of the
retail book market, and the novel sexual act, and the adultery. The
had reached 3rd place on the best Post Office maintains that "the
seller list. effect of the book . . . considered
The Post Office, upon seizure as a whole . . . upon all those
of the 164 books from Readers whom it is likely to reach . . .
Subscription, charged that "Lady would arouse sexual desires or
Chatterley is. obscene, filthy, and sexual impure thoughts . . . and
offensive to the common con- with its numerous obscene and
science of the community." On filthy terms and passages, does
May 14 counsel for Grove Press
and Readers Subscription (who Gordon Mumma, who
combined to fight for, the book) has often contributed film,
appeared before a Post Office De- music and art reviews to
partment judicial officer to argue The Daily, discusses the re.
the charges. During the nine and
one-half hour session the de- cently renewed question of
fendants put two of the top names literary censorship
in American literary criticism--
Malcolm Cowley and Alfred Kazin
on the stand.
The defense, though eloquent, Try FOLLE
was not sufficient to convince the
Post Office Department. The book
was declared illegal for passage U S E D I
through the United States Mails
(which it has been since original c ,t BARG'A
publication in 1928). The Grove
Press has stated that it is pre- New Books I
pared to take the case to the
Supreme Court in an attempt to
reverse the Post Office Decision.
CONGRES has decided that the STATE STREET at
mails shall not be used tc
a week as a result of various daughter, I don't want her read- but a considerable portion of first
forces, including Freudian psy- ing books like Lady Chatterley." class mail from the Communist
chology and great worries about First, are we to keep books from Bloc countries is sent to Washing-
repressions and perversions. This the mature adult because of the ton, D.C., or San Francisco by the
sort of idea of fulfillment in the twelve year old daughter, and Post Office for "inspection" be-
marriage state has become enor- second, isn't child morality the fore it is delivered to the intended
muu -y- nnun, aun^.a c-vnim~nral >.
mousey common, almost universal.i
These arguments, both for and
against the book, are standard
arguments since the time of the
"Ulysses" case.
The Supreme Court decisions
have established ineffective prece-
dents concerning the freedoms of
Speech, Press, Religion and As-
sembly. They are ineffective be-
cause every work censored or sup-
pressed must be laborously, ex-
pensively and exhaustively chal-
lenged by the defendents. What
worth was gained in the Lady
Chatterley film decision if the
State of New York was ableto
bitterly retort "so they won this
one, they will have to fight for
every other film we ban or cen-
sor?"
IT IS EVEN more discouraging
to consider the implications of
the defendents of the book Lady
Chatterley. During the Post Of-
fice Dept. judicial hearing, the
counsel for Grove Press, Charles
Rembar, stated that "The por-
trayal of sex, for example, in art,
literature, scientific works, is not
itself sufficient reason to deny
material the constitutional pro-
tection of freedom of speech and
press." The implication is that
there could actually be some rea-
son to deny this freedom.
Later in the defense, Malcolm
Cowley made a statement which
further defeats the issue. In de-
fense of Lawrence's use of four
letter words he stated "there are
writers who are men of distinc-
tion and men of conviction and
they deserve a great deal more
liberty than third-rate talents ..,
if (your question) is intended to
imply that I believe in perfect and
absolute liberty for the writer ...
I don't." Does Cowley mean to
imply that some writers are more
equal than others?
The issue is not being properly
l
i
1
t
1
i
"Offensive to the common conscience"?
keep poisonous medicines out of receiver. And, except by devious
the reach of all children? means, it is impossible to receive
As for the smut peddlers, who any literature, political, social, cul-
Ahrive onthesuedlersindithistural, whatever, from any country
thrive on the juvenile mind, It is which does not have diplomatic
impossible to control smut ped- relations with the United States.
dlers by enforcing literary cen- That includes nearly one third of
sorship laws. The proper laws for the land area of the Earth. Sub-
the smut peddler are those which stantiation of the political censor-
define contributing to the de- ship mentioned above can be
linquincy of minors. Literary cen- found in the New York Times In-
sorship laws are a threat to dex or the Annual Reports of the
literature rather than the smut American Civil Liberties Union.)
peddler, and a nuisance to the We are not in a time of war,
adult mind and scholar. and freedom of the press is not
It is unfortunate that obscenity concerned here with military sec-
always clouds the issue of freedom rets, a problem all its own. The
of the press. Censorship on moral Grove Press may or may not win
grounds is but a small fraction of its battle for Lady Chatterley. It
that which confronts the Ameri- does not really matter. If they
can citizen. Political censorship is win, every book which follows will
a far worse problem. Until one has still have to be fought in the same
battled with the Post Office, Cus- way. If they lose, it will make
toms, or the State Department to little difference to Lady Chatter-
receive newspapers, books and ley who is already well over 100,-
works of art which have been 000 copies sold and still high on
legally purchased, there is no vyay the best seller list.
I
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Open Saturday Afternoons until 3 P.M.
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TUESAY, EPTEBER 5, 159 Pge F':r
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1959:
Page Fiyo